Japanese history can be divided into the following
time periods£º

Prehistoric Japan

During the Jomon period, which began around 10,000
BC, the inhabitants of Japan lived by fishing, hunting,
and gathering. The period is named after the cord-markings
(jomon) on the pottery they produced. In the Yayoi
period, beginning around 300 BC, rice cultivation
was introduced from the Korean Peninsula. An account
of Japan in a Chinese historical document of the
third century AD describes a queen named Himiko
ruling over a country called Yamatai.

Kofun Period (ca. AD 300-710)

In the fourth century, ancestors of the present
imperial family established Japan's first unified
state under what is known as the Yamato court. During
this period, manufactured articles, weapons, and
agricultural tools were introduced from China and
Korea. The period is named after the huge mounded
tombs (kofun) that were built for the political
elite. These tombs were often surrounded with clay
cylinders and figurines called haniwa.

Nara Period (710-794)

A centralized government, with its capital in what
is now the city of Nara, was established under a
Chinese-style system of law codes known as the Ritsuryo
system. Buddhism became the national religion, and
Buddhist art and architecture flourished. Provincial
temples called kokubunji were set up throughout
Japan. It was during this period that the Great
Buddha at the Todaiji temple in Nara was built.
Histories of Japan, such as Kojiki and Nihon shoki
were compiled, as was the celebrated collection
of poetry called Man'yoshu.

Heian Period (794-1185)

After the capital moved to what is now Kyoto, certain
noble families,especially the Fujiwara family, gained
control of the government, ruling on behalf of the
emperor. The Chinese-style culture that had dominated
the Nara period was gradually replaced by a more
indigenous style of culture closer to the lives
of the people and their natural surroundings. The
palaces of the emperor and the residences of the
noble families incorporated beautiful gardens, with
buildings in the shinden-zukuri style of architecture.
Literary masterpieces such as Murasaki Shikibu's
The Tale of Genji and Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book
were written during this period

Kamakura Period (1185-1333)

The Taira family, a warrior family that had come
to dominate the imperial court in the late Heian
period, was overthrown by the Minamoto family. Minamoto
no Yoritomo was given the title of shogun by the
court, and he set up a military-style government
at Kamakura - the Kamakura Shogunate - ushering
in a period of de facto rule by members of the warrior
class. In the arts, a vigorous, realistic style
emerged that was in keeping with the warrior spirit.
The statues of fierce guardian deities by Unkei
and other sculptors at the Southern Great Gate of
Todaiji Temple are examples of this powerful, realistic
style. In literature, this period is noted for military
tales such as the Tale of the Heike, which celebrated
the exploits of the warriors

Muromachi Period (1333-1568)

The beginning of this period was dominated by a
political standoff between Emperor Go-Daigo, who
had briefly restored control of the government to
the imperial court, and his former supporter Ashikaga
Takauji, who had overthrown the Kamakura Shogunate
but had then gone on to establish the Muromachi
Shogunate. In time the shogunate weakened, losing
its centralized control over local warlords; the
latter part of this period is referred to as the
Sengoku period - a period of "warring states." More
plebeian forms of culture began to emerge as the
merchant class and the peasants managed to improve
their circumstances. In the arts this was a period
of Chinese-style ink painting, and in theater Noh
drama and kyogen came to the fore. This was also
the period in which the pursuits of tea ceremony
and flower arrangement were born. In architecture,
an important development was the shoin-zukuri style,
with elegant tatami-matted rooms, featuring an alcove
where paintings were hung.

Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1568-1600)

The nation was reunified by Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi
Hideyoshi (foremost among the Sengoku warlords)
who respectively ruled it briefly. In the arts,
this was a period of increased contact with Europeans,
who had begun to visit Japan earlier in the century.
In place of the Buddhist influence of earlier periods,
a lavishly ornate decorative style was developed
at the hands of the warlords and the emerging merchant
classes in the towns. This new style reached its
height in Nobunaga's Azuchi Castle and Hideyoshi's
Momoyama and Osaka castles. At this time the tea
master Sen no Rikyu developed the tea ceremony into
an esthetic discipline that is known as the Way
of Tea.

Edo Period (1600-1868)

Tokugawa Ieyasu, who defeated other vassals of the
deceased Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the Battle of Sekigahara
and thereby gained control of Japan, established
the Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo (now Tokyo). The Tokugawa
shoguns ruled Japan for over 260 years, and for
some 200 of these years the country was virtually
shut off from foreign contact by the shogunate's
policy of national seclusion. From the end of the
17th century through the beginning of the 18th century,
a colorful, down-to-earth new culture developed
among the townsmen of the older cities of Kyoto
and Osaka. Ihara Saikaku composed his ukiyo-zoshi
(books of the "floating world"), Chikamatsu Monzaemon
portrayed tragic relationships between men and women
in his puppet plays, and Matsuo Basho raised the
comic haiku verse form to the level of a literary
art. By the Bunka and Bunsei eras, at the beginning
of the 19th century, this new merchant-class form
of culture was also flourishing in the shogunal
capital of Edo. The kabuki drama was in its heyday.
The printing of books had become an industry. The
art of the woodblock print (ukiyoe) was born, with
Sharaku producing his portraits of actors, Utamaro
his pictures of beautiful women, and Hokusai and
Hiroshige their landscapes.Pre-Meiji Period (1646-1867)
This was during Japan's feudal period when the country
was ruled by the Tokugawa shogun. Japan was under
self-imposed isolation from the rest of the world
except for a small Dutch trading post in Nagasaki.
In the mid-19th century, photographic technology
was first introduced to Japan through the Dutch
connection. The first photographs of Japanese were
also taken. As Japan started to open up to the West
during the final years of the Tokugawa (a period
called Bakumatsu), foreigners started to
settle in Japan and they included photographers
who also taught photography to some Japanese.

Meiji Period (1868-1912)

The Meiji Restoration, by which political authority
was restored from the shogunate to the imperial
court, ushered in a period of far-reaching reform.
The policy of national seclusion was rescinded,
and the culture and civilization of the West began
to pervade every aspect of Japanese life. Japan's
victories in the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese
wars enabled it to assume the stance of a modern,
imperialistic world power. Modern Japanese literature
was born with the publication of Futabatei Shimei's
novel Ukigumo (Drifting Clouds), the first literary
work to be written in the modern colloquial language.
A Japanese version of romanticism soon appeared,
with writers making their first attempts at free,
natural expression of people's true feelings.

Taisho Period (1912-1926)

The educated urban middle classes avidly read the
latest translations of Western books and provided
the audience for new experiments in literature,
drama, music, and painting. New kings of mass media
- large circulation newspapers, general monthly
magazines like Chuo koron (The Central Review) and
Kaizo, and radio broadcasts - added to the richness
of cultural life. The significant development in
literature was the emergence of the Shirakaba school.
Members of the group including Mushanokoji Saneatsu
and Shiga Naoya were united by their upper- class
background as well as by their basic humanism. In
the Western-style of painting, Yasui Sotaro and
Umehara Ryuzaburo returned from Paris to promote
the styles of Cezanne and Renoir. Japanese-style
painters such as Yokoyama Taikan and Hishida Shunso
were also affected by European styles, although
on a limited scaleEarly 20th century ( £¿-1945)

Most foreign photographers left Japan as the
number of native Japanese photographers increased.
As cameras became easier to operate and cheaper
in price, photography also spread to the masses
and became a major hobby. Many photography magazines
and camera clubs were started. Japan's own camera
and film industries also started to flourish.

Post-war Period (1946-1959)

Japan's photography industry retooled to recover
from the devastation of World War II. Although Japanese
products were of low-quality initially, Japanese
cameras soon gained a world-class reputation by
the late 1950s.

High-growth Period (1960-1989)

Japan entered an unprecedented period of high
economic growth with mass consumerism. Domestic
sales of durable goods soared along with an expanding
export market. The label "Made in Japan" became
associated with cutting-edge technology and top
quality. Japan went on to become the world leader
in camera technology and sales, snuffing out most
German and US makers. The Japanese camera maker's
competitors were no longer German or American. They
were only Japanese. However, by the mid-1980s, the
camera market became saturated and sales started
to decline.

Recent Period (1990-2000)

A long and deep recession hit Japan during the 1990s
dubbed the "lost decade." Several publishers of
photo books went bankrupt. A few major photography-oriented
magazines folded. Some photo galleries also closed.
On the bright side, Japanese photographic culture
underwent an unprecedented rebirth and expansion.
Firstly, photography gained recognition as a fine
art in Japan more than ever before. Major art museums
established photography departments and they and
other exhibition spaces (like dept. stores) often
held major photo exhibitions. This movement was
capped by the construction of the Tokyo Metropolitan
Museum of Photography, Japan's first public museum
devoted to photography. The ban on publishing pubic
hair in print media was also abolished, resulting
in a flood of books and magazines featuring nude
women with uncensored pubic hair.Among the masses,
the popularity of taking pictures reached unprecedented
levels, sparked by high school girls armed with
single-use cameras shooting anything that captured
their fancy to create a photo diary. Photography
also piqued the interest of many young Japanese
women who made major inroads into Japan's photography
world by entering photo schools, winning major photo
contests, holding exhibitions, publishing photo
books, and turning professional. Taking pictures
suddenly became really fashionable among women and
many female pop idols also start to "show-off" their
new hobby. At the same time, tiny Print Club photo
stickers also grew into a phenomenal fad among youngsters
(and later adults) destined to become a permanent
part of Japanese culture. And the Internet revolution
opened a whole new dimension for photographers to
display their work.

The Future (21st century)

As digital technology advances, more people will
buy and use digital cameras. More people will learn
to print their own photos with computer printers
and dedicated printers. Prices of high-end, SLR
digital cameras will continue to fall while the
technology and image quality improves. When high-end
digital SLR cameras become as cheap as high-end
film-based cameras, the digital revolution will
be complete as users switch to digital systems in
droves. The use of the Internet will continue to
grow in Japan as hookup costs go down and mobile
phones become more capable for the Wireless Web.
Mobile phone technology will advance further with
phones having a built-in digital camera so you can
send photos (and movies) on the spot. The popularity
of digital cameras and camera phones will continue
to affect film sales (including those of single-use
or disposable cameras).